大般涅槃經集解 67.102

67.102

Sengliang comments: For the fourth person, from the summit onwards, whether abiding or progressing, whether slow or fast, he is not bound by evil friends. From the four stations of mindfulness up to the worldly supreme dharmas, there are five grades of roots of goodness: inferior, middling, superior, superior-middling, and supreme-superior. The four stations of mindfulness are inferior; the dharma of heat is middling; the dharma of the summit is superior; the dharma of acceptance is superior-middling; and the worldly supreme dharma is supreme-superior. The dharmas prior to mindfulness are not fixed and do not enter the five grades; being above the two grades, it is called the 'summit'. The four directions are a metaphor for the four noble truths. The contemplation and practice extends further, hence it is said to be 'all-pervading', which explains the meaning of 'summit'. Regarding 'its nature is the five aggregates': one who possesses bodily view and all such karmas is called an ordinary person; if heavy, he is called an external [ordinary person], and if light, an internal [ordinary person]. The dharma of heat is the beginning of severing the heavy ones; because the mind of wisdom is weak, it cannot yet cause the mental factors of body and speech to entirely turn away from heavy evils. When the mind of the summit has grown strong, it causes the karmas of body and speech not to give rise to heavy evils, and the wholesome karmas of body and speech are all the dharma of the summit; hence it is said that 'its nature is the five aggregates'. Regarding 'also taking the four noble truths as its object': this clarifies that wisdom is the master of practice, and it is explained practice by practice. Next, one attains the dharma of acceptance: as the heavy views are about to end, acceptance is next established; because the mind of wisdom is not yet fully tranquil and expansive, it is called 'acceptance'. Next, one attains the worldly supreme dharma: the sūtra speaks of internal and external ordinary persons; if one has not yet severed the internal, it is called 'worldly'; when both internal and external are completely severed, it is called 'supreme'. These five persons attain worldly non-defilement, being both noble and ordinary. Dharma-acceptance of suffering is supramundane non-defilement. For severing the internal ordinary person, only acceptance and wisdom are spoken of; taking the seeing of cessation as the path of seeing the truths, if one does not see cessation, one does not see suffering and the rest. To say that form and the rest have intrinsic nature implies that intrinsic nature is permanent; what is permanent is blissful; and what is blissful is not suffering. When one sees that form lacks intrinsic nature and is a provisional coming-together of causes and conditions, then arising is merely the arising of suffering, and cessation is merely the cessation of suffering. When one initially sees acceptance of suffering, seeing that suffering is unarisen—this is 'seeing suffering'. It is first termed 'acceptance of suffering' to clarify its seeing of cessation, though only the name of suffering is expressed. The rest can be understood accordingly. Severing fetters is of three kinds: first, proceeding from principle rather than from revulsion—this refers to bodhisattvas. Second, proceeding from revulsion rather than from principle—this refers to non-Buddhists. Third, proceeding from both revulsion and principle—this refers to śrāvakas. For bodhisattvas, proceeding from principle is called the acceptance of the non-arising of dharmas. Śrāvakas ride upon revulsion and universally take suffering as its designation, thus distinguishing the Mahāyāna path from the Hīnayāna. Regarding 'the nature of acceptance is wisdom': taking emptiness as its object is wisdom, while taking existence as its object is ideation. Regarding 'taking one truth as its object, completely severing the afflictions abandoned by seeing': 'one truth' refers to cessation. 'Abandoned by seeing' refers to what is severed by the four truths. A single wisdom severs all four, hence it says 'up to'. As the Śrīmālādevisūtra says: 'Severing the afflictions of the four dwellings by a single wisdom', one also obtains the merit of four severing wisdoms. It also says: 'There is no worldly supreme-superior wisdom', because through the four wisdoms one gradually reaches the supreme-superior wisdom, which is supramundane and undefiled. Sengzong comments: Although the person of the dharma of the summit takes the four truths as object, his mind focused on emptiness is little, and his thoughts perceiving existence are many. 'Aggregates' implies existence and is also called 'accumulation', clarifying that this contemplative mind retains much sentiment of existence, which is why it is said that 'its nature is [the five aggregates]'. Up to the dharma of acceptance, which is slightly superior, its nature is also the five aggregates. The worldly supreme dharma is called 'having the five faculties as its nature' because its attainment of principle has grown deeper, shifting the name from 'aggregates' to 'faculties'. In saying that the supreme dharma's mind can serve as a root for the undefiled, the acceptance of suffering takes one truth as its object. If we discuss the preceding dharma of heat and supreme dharma, at that time they could practice taking one truth as their object, but since the mind of existence was abundant and the mind of non-existence was slight, the name of non-existence was obscured and only the name of existence was given. From the summit upward, severing the afflictions abandoned by seeing up to the fruit of srotāpanna constitutes the fourth person. Baoliang comments: It is precisely because this third established person meets a good friend and establishes the five faculties headed by faith, and relying on this understanding enters the path of seeing the truths, completely severing the afflictions that display characteristics, that he becomes a srotāpanna. Regarding 'taking one truth as object': when the equality of the four truths is attained, correct contemplation appears before oneself, there are no longer four distinctions, and only empty wisdom follows along. While in the five expedient stages, there were still distinctions of ideation, sensation, and the like, taking the four truths as separate objects. Now, because the initial mind of the acceptance of suffering tallies with the signless, it obtains the name of taking the truth of cessation as its object.